Everything Dies: Part 1
The feature-length conclusion to Season 11, Everything Dies brought to light both the delicate balance in the fight to stop colonisation, and the true nature of the supposedly noble Schattenjaeger. With the crashed UFO obliterated by a colonist ship, and the locals now being culled by the same aliens, chaos has descended on the island of Heimaey and nobody is safe. A crossfire between Schattenjaeger and the New Consortium makes a deadly killing ground for the innocents in between, and even the victors of the struggle face death at the hands of the violence. As the finale of an intriguing Season 11, Everything Dies followed up the pace setter Ueber Alles in establishing the true war raging between the two most influential forces on Earth; and the ruthless actions required. With Niet Vaats seen as the potential breaker of the war of attrition between Colonist and Rebel, it soon becomes clear that it's capture is vital above everything else. And when the stakes are so high, the lives of the Heimaey residents and UN soldiers are seen as expendable in light of the greater good. As Alexandr Schneider says, they are just another sacrifice for the sake of mankind. A Perfect Weapon As the endgame approaches, the potential significance of Vaats becomes clear. Created by a race of aliens directly evolved from the black oil, known as the Engineers, Vaats is perhaps the perfect weapon. Capable of malevolent destruction, he is also gifted with unprescedented levels of subterfuge and inflitration, with the ability to read the minds and memories of any man and adapt the appearance and personality of anyone dead or living. Vaats can become anyone, and is indestructable to anyone who doesn't share the same compostion of his creators: the black oil. Caught in the middle of the fight, Mulder is truly oblivious to his own importance in the fight. Six years before, his encounter with the same substance gave him a rare gentic strand of DNA that could potentially give him a greater intelligence already seen in the likes of Gibson Praise and Selena Correia. It also means he has the ability to nullify Vaats's destructive power and also could potentially bring his murderous existence to a close. With Schneider and Conrad Strughold oblivious to his presence, it becomes clear his place on the island was arranged by another individual who has a very different agenda. This would be because, despite Vaats's potency for death and destruction, the very same skill makes him untameable. By handing him over to the Rebels, Schattenjaeger could well see their allies destroyed by their new weapon. Beginnings of an Obsession The origin of this vision lay 30 years before. With the Syndicate just three years into their unholy alliance with the Alien colonists, they were called to another alien crash in New Mexico, one which saw the release of an alien shapeshifter who quickly demostrated his ungodly powers. This posed the greatest argument: whether to return the weapon or to retain it to fight off the invading race. On the fateful night, the choice was taken from the members by one of their compatriots. Despite Schneider's desire to resist, Cigarette-Smoking Man submitted to serve by contacting their allies before consulting the group. The anger at their lost opportunity was all the impetus that Schneider required to form his own group; one dedicated to making a stand against the invasion. Thus, the birth of Schattenjaeger. However, the desire turned to obsession and soon Schneider's colleagues questioned his inhumane priority to gain Vaats for the purposes of handing him over to the Rebels. A decision that could potentially destroy their efforts rather than improve them. Afterall, with the presence of Black Oil being the only thing preventing an attack, how could anyone attempt to control it? When the Engineers handed over their creation to the Colonists under duress, they knew fine well the Colonists could never hope to tame the beast. It was the final revenge before death as the Colonists wiped out the Creation based species. Old Faces from Anew The greatest threat posed by Vaats is in fact the greatest weakness faced by man: that of the heart. Although by neccesity Vaats will usually only impersonate the living to gain advantage, he also has the unerring ability to become the dead in order to manipulate the enemies he faces. After bringing Bill Mulder to tears in 1976 by becoming his lost daughter, three years gone, he again used human emotion to suit his needs thirty years later, becoming a man known to many and equally reviled and feared. In the blink of an eye morphing into Cigarette-Smoking Man, Vaats has posed an even greater barrier for Mulder in his plot to kill him than even a form of Samantha would have. As 'CSM' puts it, "you couldn't kill me before, why would it be any different now?". TBC